Former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan has been nominated by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024 from West Bengal's Behrampore constituency.
Pathan's contender from the Congress party is Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. This will be his first foray into Indian politics.
Yusuf's cricketing career in numbers
Pathan played 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is for India from 2007 to 2012 during which time he scored 810 runs with 2 hundreds and 3 fifties in 50-overs cricket while in the shortest format he amassed 236 runs.
The 41-year-old broke into the limelight thanks to the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he was a key part of the Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals team which won the inaugural title in 2008.
He achieved major success during his 8-year stint with Kolkata Knight Riders where he won the IPL title two more times in 2012 and 2014 under Gautam Gambhir's captaincy.
Kirti Azad also gets TMC ticket
In another notable move, former Indian cricketer and 1983 World Cup winner Kirti Azad has received a TMC party ticket to run for the Durgapur Lok Sabha seat.
It's worth mentioning that Kirti Azad previously won the Lok Sabha elections from Darbhanga in 2014 under the BJP ticket. However, in 2018, he departed from BJP and joined the Congress, later shifting allegiance to the TMC in 2021.
At a massive rally held in Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground on Sunday, the TMC, under the leadership of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, unveiled its roster of candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state for the upcoming general election.
According to Trinamool sources, the candidate list is anticipated to blend "veterans" with "fresh faces," with a majority of the incumbent MPs expected to receive renomination. Additionally, insiders reveal that the newcomers will include notable personalities from the Bengali film industry.
